Mr. William Barton Jones

An inquiry to a blog post I did about my grandfather’s company, Barton Instruments, prompted me to look for some more information written about him. In doing so I found this article…

The career of Mr. William Barton Jones is a record of determination, achievement and a meteoric rise to positions of importance. Mr. Jones is the President and a major stockholder of Barton Instrument Corporation, located in Monterey Park, which is one of the nation’s most successful industrial instrument firms with international sales and reputation.

Early preparation for this career was obtained in two leading technical schools of the United States. Mr. Jones studied for two years at California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California; and then transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where in 1923 he received the degree of Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering.

Mr. Jones began his working career as an engineer with the Southern California Edison Company and then C. F. Braun Company of Alhambra. After two years of employment working for others, Mr. Jones reached the decision to become an entrepreneur—a decision which persisted through many years of trials and struggles.

The history of the Barton Instrument Corporation dates back to 1925 when Mr. Jones entered the partnership of Hanson, Jones & Morey to develop and sell forced air transformer coolers. This partnership was succeeded by the firm of Morey, Jones & Lovell, Inc., which in 1930 became known as Morey & Jones, Ltd. Mr. Jones was the treasurer of this business arrangement until 1935 when he became president.

During the Depression years, the organization attempted to make and market a number of products other than transformer coolers. However, the product line that carried through the years was differential pressure measuring instruments. The first instrument, a simple, single glass tube manometer for measuring water flow to cooling towers, was followed by many designs and models.

In all, 148 product designs were undertaken from 1925 to 1942. Culminating these years of engineering effort, in 1943 Mr. Jones invented a “rupture-proof” dual-bellows instrument that brought a completely new concept to the field of differential pressure measurement.

In 1945 Mr. Jones merged Morey & Jones, Ltd. into a partnership with John K. Lyon and William E. Palmer that went by the name of the Barton Instrument Company. Then in 1946 Mr. Jones bought out his partners and operated Barton Instrument Company as a sole proprietorship until 1949 when the present business was incorporated.

In addition to heading the Barton Instrument Corporation, Mr. Jones is active in management and is a director of three other firms: Barton Europe, N.V. (the European subsidiary of Barton Instrument Corporation with headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands), Barton Sales Company of California, and a Los Angeles investment firm, the Coypass Land Company.

Mr. Jones is the only son of Reginald H. Jones and Grace (Cole) Jones. He was born January 25, 1901, in Hollywood, California. He went to Selma Avenue Grade School in Hollywood and graduated from Hollywood High School.

On June 13, 1935, Mr. Jones married the former Miss Gladys Estelle Hayes. Their son, Arthur Kenyon Jones, married Joan Crook and they gave Mr. Jones three grandchildren: Michel, Kimberly and Bradley Cole. Their daughter, Judith, is a student at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles.

Mrs. Jones is a graduate of the University of Colorado at Boulder, Colorado, and a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. Locally, she is a member of the Pasadena Symphony Association, the Art Alliance of the Pasadena Art Museum, and the Pasadena Philharmonic Committee.

The State of California has recognized Mr. Jones as a registered mechanical engineer since 1948. He is an active member of the American Rocket Society, the Southern California Meter Association, the Economic Round Table of Los Angeles, and serves on the Board of Affiliates for Claremont Men’s College. In 1961 the Instrument Society of America bestowed the honor of “Fellow” to Mr. Jones in recognition of his contributions and service to the industry. Long an active member of ISA, Mr. Jones recently served as a member of the Finance Committee. He has been a director of the Merchants and Manufacturers Association of Los Angeles for the past three years.

Socially Mr. Jones is a member of the Valley Hunt Club of Pasadena and the University Club of Los Angeles. He is a former member of the Bachelors of Los Angeles, an alumni member of Phi Kappa Sigma fraternity and an active member of the M.I.T. Club of Southern California. Based on personal experience, Mr. Jones is a firm advocate of the private enterprise system and actively supports and participates in many movements aimed at protecting this system, individual freedom and constitutional government.

From the sound of it this article was written in the early 1960’s, evidenced by it placing his daughter, Judith, as currently in school at USC.

I really enjoy coming across stuff like this. The original article can be found here.